The Federal Reserve can likely wait until the middle of 2015 to begin raising interest rates from rock-bottom lows, given a job market that still shows signs of weakness and inflation that remains below central bank’s 2% target, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said.

Mr. Lockhart, in an interview Friday with The Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of the Kansas City Fed’s Jackson Hole conference, said he remains fairly optimistic about the economy’s growth prospects. He thinks U.S. gross domestic product will average around a 3% annual rate coming quarters.

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